When we first launched Next Gen Tools we had a hunger for getting started. Little did we know that there were multiple other AI tool directories out there. This was perhaps foolhardy on our part, but building a big website was not the only reason we want to put our focus into AI.
What we found in October, shortly after our first iteration launched, is that Google is in flux, and fledgling publishers are hardly going to rank in without large doses of originality. Given our relative lateness to the market, the proposition wasn’t particularly original, thus we needed to rethink it.
The Next Gen Tools wasn’t an original name either. I even worked in a gym called Next Generation Fitness while at uni in York. Meanwhile, the market leading tools directory is called There’s An AI For That. There’s something kind of amusing about it which sets it apart.
We also couldn’t compete against it. Sure, having 4,000 AI tools on your website sounds good, but There’s An AI For That now has 28,000 (and counting). But who really needs all those? Using a handful of tools via a proper human review and recommendation would be more practical.
Cometh the agents
I also noticed a change in discussion on social media. By the end of the year, generative video had become a force in its own right, and we’ve reached near human creative parity in image, text, voice and video generation.
The next phase doesn’t appear to be so much about more and more tools. It’s going to be how these tools fit together in AI led automations, and potentially led by ‘agents’ (automations with ‘agency’ to work on behalf of someone). I’m not sure how far we’ll get with agents this year, but there’s something in the air.
I also liked the quirkiness of Absolutely, the alliteration, that it could be dropped when we wanted to be more serious. Moreover, the domain absolutelyagentic.com was available. A good name isn’t easy to find in the Wild West of AI.
See more about our pivot on LinkedIn.
Harry, Adam and James (the founding team)
New services, new content
Our pivot wasn’t just a name change. Given how much we’ve learnt so far, we’re going to be selling services into the fast growing demand for AI. Primarily this will come from strategic consulting, tool selection and automation creation. This work will inform our new content.
Last week we moved domain. A couple of teething issues have since been ironed out, and the newsletter has been redesigned. Some content initiatives have been decided on:
Moving from a scale based tools directory into a carefully curated top 100 AI tools with human review.
Publishing more regular and structured Insights articles.
We’re going to grow this email list, and hopefully justify its publication several times a week (currently Wednesday only).
We’re aiming to bring in a Premium section for automations and AI learning by the end of Q1. Pay a subscription, and get access to workflows and tutorials.
Next week we have a huge email about the web’s new era incoming. You should learn a lot. In the meantime, it’s going to be…
